Wednesday, March 16, 2011

ATF Should Change Its Name to WTF

Doug Giles comments on efforts by the ATF to "plant" evidence of gun smuggling

What finally drew my ire and ink was the underreported story about how, according to Alan M. Gottlieb, Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), the Obama Administration and members of Congress are still trying to take away our Second Amendment rights, especially in the wake of the Tucson shootings.

And I quote: "The ATF has a very political agenda in mind, and that is to take away your gun rights—even if it means allowing gun sales to criminals so they can present ‘evidence’ to the administration that the Second Amendment should be restricted or abolished!”

For instance, Gottlieb reports:

On December 14, 2010, Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry was shot as he tried to capture heavily armed "bandits” targeting illegal immigrants trying to get across the border near Rio Rico, Arizona. He died the next morning. It was a tragic incident that occurs frequently on our southern border, made all the more tragic because the semi-automatic rifle that was used to kill Agent Terry was bought by a criminal and smuggled into Mexico under the watchful eye of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

William La Jeunesse (Fox News broadcast, February 22, 2011) states, "The gun used to kill Agent Brian Terry has been sourced, not to Mexico, but to a gun store in Phoenix that was actually part— and cooperating with—a federal investigation into arms trafficking. However, U.S. agents did not stop the sale or the transfer of that gun to the cartels that killed Terry.”

Quoting Gottlieb again, the accusations against ATF and DOJ officials include:

1. They intentionally allowed perhaps as many as 3,000 firearms to "walk” across the U.S. border into Mexico.

2. They instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.

3. They intentionally withheld information about U.S.-sanctioned gun smuggling from the Mexican government.

4. One of the guns ATF allowed or helped to be smuggled into Mexico was involved in the death of CBP Agent Brian Terry.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) is now demanding answers on ATF's "Project Gunrunner.” Hundreds of guns were allowed to be purchased along the border by alleged straw buyers, while ATF conducted its investigation and DID NOTHING. The ATF looked the other way while these guns slipped into Mexico into the hands of drug cartels, and then they blamed gun laws in the United States for the transactions.

Anti-gun activists, led by the Obama administration, are doing all they can to make the connection between law-abiding citizens and deranged criminals—even standing by while known drug dealers purchase guns on our soil and take them back to Mexico ... and then use them to take the lives of our brave border agents!

Whistleblower John Dodson, 39, a front-line agent for the ATF, told the Center for Public Integrity that the guns the ATF allowed into the hands of drug lords and gun runners "are going to be turning up in crimes on both sides of the border for decades. With the number of guns we let walk, we'll never know how many people were killed, raped, robbed ... there is nothing we can do to round up those guns. They are gone.” Dodson said his supervisors were "elated every time a gun was recovered in Mexico” because they "saw it as proving the nexus that we were dealing with a real drug trafficking group.”

For two years, we've been hearing from Holder and others in the Obama administration about a so-called "iron pipeline” of American guns across the border, and federal officials have been working to strip you of your rights.

Wouldn't it be ironic to learn that while the Obama administration was blaming our gun rights for the drug war violence in Mexico, its own gun sting operation was a major source of illicit firearms?

Gottlieb and The CCRKBA call on Congress to support Senator Grassley's investigation into "Project Gunrunner” and to cut funding to the corrupt ATF immediately. Obama nominated anti-gun zealot Andrew Traver to head up the ATF prior to Congressional recess last year and reappointed him in the 112th Congress, but the Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to hold hearings. Rumors are that this Gunrunner issue is causing problems because the ATF doesn’t want questions about this case to come up. What does the ATF not want us to know?

SOURCE




NH House votes on deadly force bill: "A gun rights bill blocked five years ago by New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is back and it faces a vote in the House on Tuesday. Lynch vetoed the bill in 2006, which would expand a person's right to use deadly force in self defense or in defense of others without first attempting to retreat. Right now state law allows people to use deadly force in their homes to defend against crimes like rape, but in public places people can only use deadly force if they try to retreat first."


Pro-Gun Bills Move Forward in Arizona House & Senate: "As reported last week, Senate Bill 1201 passed in the Senate on its final reading by a vote of 21 to 8, with one absent. This pro-gun bill is a comprehensive firearms reform measure which would make a number of improvements to Arizona’s carry laws. Most importantly, it would help put an end to “gun free” signs limiting your right to carry in most currently prohibited places and unsecured buildings. This reasonable right-to-carry reform legislation is designed to prohibit the arbitrary lines created by these signs which currently restrict your right to self-defense. Also, Senate Bill 1469 had its first reading in the House yesterday and was referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. This important self-defense reform would strengthen the current “Castle Doctrine” self-defense law by broadening the definition of reasonable use of force"

1 comment:

Wireless.Phil said...

I think you may have missed this one?

I think you may want to share this with My-Pet-Jawa?

Isn't this a kick in the mouth of the Anti-gunners!

ATF let hundreds of U.S. weapons fall into hands of suspected Mexican gunrunners
By John Solomon and David Heath and Gordon Witkin March 03, 2011
Front-line agents and Sen.Charles Grassley are sharply questioning a federal investigation that allowed hundreds of guns to move across the border to Mexico.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2976/